HOMEBREW Digest #302 Tue 14 November 1989

FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator
Contents:Pitching Yeast (John DeCarlo)re: clubs in Seattle ("2645 RUTH, GUY R.")BTUs ("2645 RUTH, GUY R.")Homemade Crystal ("2645 RUTH, GUY R.")Yeast vs. Wort Temperature (Doug Roberts at Los Alamos National Laboratory)Brick Brewery (Greg Schaffer)Thanks for Back Issues ("MR. DAVID HABERMAN")Bay area sources, the sequel (Ed Falk)Other sources questions (Ed Falk)Pitch It! (Martin A. Lodahl)Re: Belgian beers (iwtio!korz)Homebrew in space? (dave)
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Date: Monday, 13 Nov 1989 09:10:58 EST
From: m14051 at mwvm.mitre.org (John DeCarlo)
Subject: Pitching Yeast
> Mark Leone, mleone at cs.cmu.edu, writes:
>Papazian and others recommend pitching yeast only after the wort has
>cooled to 68 degrees or less. A dilemma: Suppose your wort is at 80
>degrees and you have to go to work. Should you (1) pitch the yeast
>now, or (2) wait eight hours. It seems like the latter option gives
>too much time for bacterial nasties to take over the wort. Where do
>you draw the line? (I've added yeast to 85 degree wort and still
>obtained good results). Also, when you pitch (ale) yeast, should you
>just sprinkle it on top of the wort, or mix it in with a sanitized
>spoon?
I think the clear winner is option number (1), since the longer you wait, as
you say, the worse things are likely to get.
However, when you pitch ale yeast (I am assuming you are talking about the
powdered yeast), you should always rehydrate it in 90-100 degree water first.
Most packets have the instructions on the back of them, surprisingly enough
:-) [I know I never read the back until told about it.]. Then, once you see
some activity in the water, you can mix it into the wort.
Mixing into the wort is probably best done with a sanitized spoon, IMHO. You
want to make sure those yeasties get access to all of the wort, not just what
is on top.
John "Of course, when you brew all night :-)" DeCarlo
ARPANET: M14051 at mwvm.mitre.org (or M14051%mwvm at mitre.arpa)
Usenet: at ... at !uunet!hadron!blkcat!109!131!John_Decarlo
Fidonet: 1:109/131
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Date: 13 Nov 89 08:34:00 MDT
From: "2645 RUTH, GUY R." <grruth at sandia.gov>
Subject: re: clubs in Seattle
> Clubs/Clans/Gangs....
> Does anyone know of such a function in the Great Northwest, ie: Seattle
> or Everett.
> Or would someone know how to start such a function??
> Hmmmmm?
Zymurgy lists the following club in Seattle:
Brews Brothers (206) 329-2452
c/o Craig Harris
324 29th Ave. E.
Seattle, WA 98112
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Date: 13 Nov 89 08:54:00 MDT
From: "2645 RUTH, GUY R." <grruth at sandia.gov>
Subject: BTUs
A friend and I are building a one barrel brew kettle from an old autoclave and
are wondering about a heat source. With a little calculation, I was able to
figure that a minimum heat source should put out approx. 15,000 BTUs. I used
the following figures:
31 gallons at approx. 8#/gallon
1 BTU to raise 1# of water 1 degree F
temperature change of 60 degrees to achieve boiling
=======
14,880 BTUs
The one thing missing from the calculation that I'm very interested in is a
reference to time. For all I know I could be heating the kettle several hours
to achieve a rolling boil. If I were to get a burner that's too hot, I wouldn't
want to start a melt down either. Can anyone help?
-- Guy
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Date: 13 Nov 89 09:23:00 MDT
From: "2645 RUTH, GUY R." <grruth at sandia.gov>
Subject: Homemade Crystal
Some time back I recall reading about making homemade crystal malt from pale
malt. Now I can't remember which book I read it in. Does anyone know of a
source of this kind of information?
-- Guy Ruth
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Date: Mon, 13 Nov 89 08:50:39 MST
From: roberts%studguppy at LANL.GOV (Doug Roberts at Los Alamos National Laboratory)
Subject: Yeast vs. Wort Temperature
> Papazian and others recommend pitching yeast only after the wort has
> cooled to 68 degrees or less. A dilemma: Suppose your wort is at 80
> degrees and you have to go to work. Should you (1) pitch the yeast
> now, or (2) wait eight hours.
Or, (3) make a wort chiller, and cool your wort to 70 degrees in 42
minutes. I made mine out of 24 feet of 1/4 inch soft copper tubing and
connectors with plastic tubing to allow it to be hooked it up to the
kithcen faucet. The total cost of material was $9.70.
--Doug
================================================================
Douglas Roberts |
Los Alamos National Laboratory |I can resist anything
Box 1663, MS F-602 | except temptation.
Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 | ...
(505)667-4569 |Oscar Wilde
dzzr at lanl.gov |
================================================================
Date: Mon, 13 Nov 89 11:25:46 EST
From: Greg Schaffer <greg at encore.com>
Subject: Brick Brewery
>> Date: Fri, 10 Nov 89 14:22:42 EST
>> From: Ken Darcovich <050235%UOTTAWA.bitnet at ugw.utcs.utoronto.ca>
>> Subject: How to enjoy Toronto.
>> ..
>> Brick - Peterborough
Not quite, Brick is brewed in Waterloo.
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Date: 13 Nov 89 10:07:00 PDT
From: "MR. DAVID HABERMAN" <habermand at afal-edwards.af.mil>
Subject: Thanks for Back Issues
Thanks to all of you who sent me digest #295. I also received several
requests for me to send it out when I got it. Our host table does not have
a lot of commercial or educational sites in it, so I apologize to those of
you who did not receive a reply. I did send a copy of #295 to the homebrew
archives at <mthvax.cs.miami.edu> that can be obtained with FTP. My pseudo
indices of the back issues are there also. aem has issues going back to Nov.
88.
David
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Date: Mon, 13 Nov 89 10:40:22 PST
From: falk at Sun.COM (Ed Falk)
Subject: Bay area sources, the sequel
I brought in a catelog from Beer Makers of America today. Basicly, malt
extract runs from $1.62/lb (Prague Pilsner, 6lb) to well over $3/lb.
Austrialian malt is 1.93/lb (6 lb).
I also visited a place in San Leandro called "Brewmaster" which I *highly*
reccomend. I didn't get the time to explore it properly, but it's about the
size of a small supermarket. You could start your own brewery from what they
have in there. They teach winemaking classes there too -- they have their own
kitchen. Bulk malt extract was about $1.50/lb for some British stuff, around
$2/lb for Australian dry malt. Malted grains were about $1.12/lb.
Lynn has sent away for a Williams' catelog (I have some second-hand stuff from
them, it looks like a class operation); we'll post more when it arrives.
So, the question still remains, where can I get malt *cheap*.
(P.s. we started some spiced ale yesterday, we'll see how it is by Christmas)
-ed falk, sun microsystems
sun!falk
falk at corp.sun.com
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Date: Mon, 13 Nov 89 10:43:11 PST
From: falk at Sun.COM (Ed Falk)
Subject: Other sources questions
Where can I get empty bottles? My friends are just about tapped out and when
I go to bars and ask them, they just look at me funny.
Likewise lab equipment. I have an acid titration set that's real clumsy;
where can I get real test-tubes and pipettes?
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Date: Mon, 13 Nov 89 11:43:28 PST
From: Martin A. Lodahl <pbmoss!mal at hplabs.HP.COM>
Subject: Pitch It!
In HBD 301, Mark Leone asked:
"Papazian and others recommend pitching yeast only after the wort has cooled
to 68 degrees or less. A dilemma: Suppose your wort is at 80 degrees and you
have to go to work. Should you (1) pitch the yeast now, or (2) wait eight
hours ..."
I've pitched at higher temperatures than that, with mixed results. If I'm
brewing a very fruity ale style using a yeast that tends toward the dry (i.e.,
Edme), it works out fine. Other yeasts (i.e., Red Star) will frequently
become wildly fruity with the higher temperatures. This has also been true
for me when brewing in the summer, when I chill the wort down to the 60's when
the house is over 100, so the temperature is slowly rising as the yeast
reproduce. In the situation you mention, I'd pitch.
" ... Also, when you pitch (ale) yeast, should you just
sprinkle it on top of the wort, or mix it in with a sanitized spoon?"
Neither. I've gotten (BY FAR!) my best results by first rehydrating the dry
yeast in about 1.5 cups of water at ~90F, for an hour or so. When the water's
turned milky and there's lots of foam on top, I pour it into the carboy and
stir with a disinfected racking tube for at least 3 minutes, then attach the
blowoff tube. The rehydration seems to coddle the yeast in some fashion, and
seems to reduce "off" flavors and noticeably hasten the start of fermentation.
= Martin A. Lodahl Pac*Bell Minicomputer Operations Support Staff =
= pacbell!pbmoss!mal -or- mal at pbmoss.Pacbell.COM 916.972.4821 =
= If it's good for ancient Druids, runnin' nekkid through the wuids, =
= Drinkin' strange fermented fluids, it's good enough for me! 8-) =
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Date: Mon, 13 Nov 89 12:54:23 mst
From: att!iwtio!korz at hplabs.HP.COM
Subject: Re: Belgian beers
I don't know about a lot of different kinds of Belgian beers, but Belgian
Lambics get their tartness from lactic acid which is produced by
lactobaccillus (sp?), the buggers that usually make milk go sour. I
personally have only tried Chimay Lambic Ale and didn't like it, so I never
pursued a recipe, but you might try laboratory supply companies for
lactobaccillus (again, sp?) slants. Maybe you could just add food grade lactic
acid if there is such an animal. Traditionally, Trappist Monks made Belgian
Lambics and used wild yeasts (which apparently also carried in
lactobaccillus). They didn't pitch yeast - they just left the fermentation
vessels open to the air and waited for something to float in and take hold. I
wouldn't recommend this proceedure.
Al.
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Date: Mon, 13 Nov 89 11:33:53 PST
From: shipit!dave at celerity.fps.com
Subject: Homebrew in space?
I found this in sci.space. Anyone feel like trying to get a micro-brewery
stuffed into a "Getaway special"?
>
> From: ZZASSGL at cms.manchester-computing-centre.ac.UK
> Subject: Micro-gravity fermentation experiments
> Message-ID: <13.Nov.89.09:47:50.GMT.ZZASSGL at UK.AC.MCC.CMS>
> Date: 13 Nov 89 09:47:50 GMT
> Sender: daemon at ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
> Organization: The Internet
> Lines: 13
>
> If people are going to live comfortably in Earth orbit, L5 or some
> other low gravity environment they must have suitable facilities, for
> instance, a good pub within easy floating distance. Obviously shipping
> casks of beer up from the surface of the Earth would be much to
> expensive and would probably ruin the beer. Thus one of the most
> important, yet neglected, aspects of space research is how to brew a
> good beer in space.
>
> After all Coke and Pepsi got their cans into space as a "scientific"
> experiment!
>
=====
David L. Smith
FPS Computing, San Diego
ucsd!celerity!dave or dave at fps.com
"Repent, Harlequin!," said the TickTock Man
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End of HOMEBREW Digest #302, 11/14/89